Lighten up!

For those of us in the UK this weekend can mean only one thing - the dreaded turning back of the clocks.  We are officially going into British Winter Time - brrrrrr!  Of course this technically means you get an extra hour in bed, which is always a bonus, but it also means it's going to be dark - and I mean proper dark - before 5PM when it comes to you cycling home.


I'm not your Mum - I'm not going to lecture you about safety equipment and tell you that you should guild every sqaure inch of yourself in hi-viz that you can find (indeed, I have my own theory that if everyone wears hi-viz then it becomes invisible, in which case you have to find something else to catch the attention of other errant road users)


My only wise words I will impart to you is this:  get some lights.


Why?  Well, firstly it's the law and I like to think that if we don't want to end up perpetuating the 'Daily Mail' public image of cycling we should probably all abide by (most) laws, and secondly because this week I have seen people riding along a well-lit street in central London with no bike lights in heavy traffic and let me tell you this - you cannot be seen.  And that is truly terrifying.


So dust off those old lights you probably keep in the back of your sock draw, replace the batteries (come on, admit it, you've not used them for months, the batteries are half dead aren't they?) and peddle on along your merry way - the darkness (or the cold) are no reasons to stop cycling - just get on out there safely and enjoy yourselves.  And hey, if you keep cycling now think how many more mince pies you'll have earnt by Christmas....